OUTSIDE OF SOCIETY - THAT'S WHERE I WANT TO BE

July 10th, 2007

About 10,000 Georgia car owners received what appeared to be an alarming flier from General Motors last fall. "Urgent Potential Recall Notice," the mailing announced in large, bold type.

In fact, there was no recall. The flier wasn't even from GM. Instead, state regulators now say, it was the latest in a 16-year pattern of deceptive sales pitches by the largest car dealer based in Georgia: Bill Heard Chevrolet.

In a lawsuit filed Friday, the first of its kind in 32 years, the Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs alleged the October mailing was intended to trick car owners into believing their vehicles were unsafe. Heard was trying to sell new cars or service plans on old autos, the lawsuit said.

The Columbus-based dealer disputes the suit's claim that any violation was "willful," J. Matthew Maguire, one of the dealer's lawyers, said Monday. Company executives admit the mailing was "not appropriate," he said, but contend the blame lies with an advertising firm.

In the past, the dealership has alleged that the agency selectively enforces the law in a way that benefits its competitors.

The lawsuit is the first filed by the consumer agency against a car dealer since 1975. The agency — long criticized for tepid enforcement of Georgia's consumer protection laws — hasn't sued anyone in seven years.

The overwhelming majority of complaints to the agency result in a relatively small fine and a promise by the accused firm to stop using deceptive trade practices.

Bill Heard has made 15 such promises in the past 16 years, according to the suit.

In five cases, it paid fines and administrative penalties totaling $279,000. No other company has paid more, the consumer agency says.

The agency's lawsuit proposes civil fines of $5,000 for each of the mailings, or a theoretical maximum of as much as $50 million. It also seeks a judge's approval to bring future allegations directly into court, bypassing the administrative process.

BARNSTABLE, Massachusetts (AP) -- A Cape Cod man who claimed he was homophobic, racist and a habitual liar to avoid jury duty earned an angry rebuke from a judge on Monday, who referred the case to prosecutors for possible charges.

"In 32 years of service in courtrooms, as a prosecutor, as a defense attorney and now as a judge, I have quite frankly never confronted such a brazen situation of an individual attempting to avoid juror service," Barnstable Superior Court Judge Gary Nickerson told Daniel Ellis, according to a preliminary court transcript of the exchange.

Ellis, of Falmouth, had been called to court with about 60 other potential jurors for possible service on a 23-member grand jury.

On a questionnaire that all potential jurors fill out, Ellis wrote that he didn't like homosexuals and blacks. He then echoed those sentiments in an interview with Nickerson.

"You say on your form that you're not a fan of homosexuals," Nickerson said.

"That I'm a racist," Ellis interrupted.

"I'm frequently found to be a liar, too. I can't really help it," Ellis added.

It keeps getting better, the only thing that could make this story better is for pictures to emerge of him smoking Ted Haggard's pickle while the two of them were geeked up on meth, with Pat Robertson fisting James Dobson over in the corner sling.

It seems there's a lot more to this Sen. David Vitter (R-Hypocrite). For instance, he was a cosponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment, which sought to protect traditional marriage as that between a man and a woman exclusively. In 2006 he is quoted as saying:

"I don't believe there's any issue that's more important than this one, I think this debate is very healthy, and it's winning a lot of hearts and minds. I think we're going to show real progress."

“We were hoping to get over 50 percent, but that didn’t happen today. Eventually, Congress is going to have to catch up to the wisdom of the American people or the American people will change Congress for the better.”

For those so inclined, he even has a "Report Government Corruption Hotline" page on his site, I'm telling you in case you want to send him a message that making a claim on the FMA being "the most important issue at hand" meanwhile, your own cock smells like hooker spit and poon juice, your own neighbors are still ten feet deep in hurricane wreckage, and soldiers are dying in the middle east - makes one a hypocritical, stupid, corrupt son of a bitch.

In 2000, Vitter was included in a Newhouse News Service story about the strain of congressional careers on families.

His wife, Wendy, was asked by the Newhouse reporter: If her husband were as unfaithful as Livingston or former President Bill Clinton, would she be as forgiving as Hillary Rodham Clinton?

“I’m a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary,” Wendy Vitter told Newhouse News. “If he does something like that, I’m walking away with one thing, and it’s not alimony, trust me.”

“I think fear is a very good motivating factor in a marriage,” she added. “Don’t put fear down.”

Vitter briefly considered a run for governor but bowed out in May 2002, citing strains on his marriage. He announced that he and his wife had entered counseling.

"This wasn't in response to any dramatic issue or event, but to the cumulative stress from working in a high-pressure job, living in two cities, building a house, raising four young kids including a newborn, having our campaign activities based at home and traveling the state considering running for governor,” Vitter said in the 2002 statement.

A week after the announcement, Vitter was forced to publicly address allegations that he had visited a New Orleans bordello, according to the Daily Advertiser in Lafayette, La. He denied the charge, calling it “a rumor and attack campaign” led by enemies to destroy his character and name.

In the run-up to his Senate campaign in 2004, Vitter was confronted again, this time on a talk radio show. And once again he called the allegations, circulated by political opponents, “absolutely and completely untrue.”

Vitter’s revelation Monday comes a month after Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt offered $1 million for information about illicit sexual relations with members of Congress. Flynt made a same pitch in October 1998, playing a role in Livingston's outing.

Vincent Bruno of Kenner said today that Vitter should resign “for his own good, the good of the party and the good of his family.” If he doesn’t resign, Vitter should “join the Democratic Party where they think that kind of behavior is OK.”

Bruno said Vitter’s actions violate the Republican Party’s “Family Values” stance but he doesn’t expect the party leadership to do anything about it. “We had David Duke and couldn’t do anything about it. They think more of the party than the right thing to do,” he said. “If they’re not going to enforce family values, they ought to take it out of the vocabulary."

“We’re the party of hypocrites,” he said. “Vote for us and we’ll lie to you, we’ll engage prostitutes and we’ll cheat on our wives.”

Bruno said he puts little stock in Vitter’s apology.

“It’s baloney,” he said. “He only fessed up to it when he got caught.”

“He needs to resign,” Bruno said. “There’s more there; I know so.”

If memory serves, it's always these same guys who shout the loudest about homos ruining marriage that always end up like this - look at Ted Haggard! Also, the guy I quoted in the last section, who took the shot at Clinton - that gum has really lost its flavor.